Slenderman's Assistant
by Super Sister
Summary: I was left with nothing. Nothing but the Slenderman. Wanker. DISCONTINUED.
1. Always Watches

How did it come to this? How? I had been tricked, manipulated and now... Now I was left with nothing. It was all gone...

But how had it come to this?

Well... It all started a long time ago, when I was a young lad. Despite my mother continously telling me not to go near the forest, I always did and played there, by myself. I couldn't help myself, you see, the fairies were my friends, my only friends, and they lived there, in the forest. I had to go there everyday.

But one day, when I went to the forest, my friends weren't there. All there was, was a curious mist. The forest didn't look as friendly as it usually did, but I didn't let that intimidate me. I sat down on my usual bench and started playing, even if it _was_ by myself.

But, being a child, I soon got bored of my games and wandered into the forest, having never actually entered it. Maybe the fairies were in there, waiting for me, I had thought back then. As I trailed down the forest paths, I saw something black in the distance. At first I thought it was a tree, but then I realised it was moving.

It was a tall, tall, and if I had known the word back then, slender man. He had no face, but some how I knew he was staring right at me. I looked at him with big eyes and said nothing. He started approaching me, slowly, delibrately.

"My mummy tells me not to talk to strangers!" I warned, frowning at the man. The man started walking faster. After a few moments of contemplation, I continued speaking. "But you're different! Hello! I'm Arthur!" I called out to him, giving the man my biggest smile. The man stopped walking, as if confused by my friendliness. He then straightened up, seemed to give me a nod and turned around, leaving. I immediately went home after that, to tell my mother what I had seen. She didn't listen to me, thinking it was just my wild imagination.

The next day, I went back to the forests in hopes of seeing the strange man again, but he was gone.

It was only later, when I was twenty-three, that I would see him again, much to my horror.

Some time after turning twenty-three, I noticed the fairies becoming anxious and nervous. Whenever I asked them about it though, they quickly brushed it off as nothing. I disliked being kept in the dark, but the fairies were the only people I really trusted, so I had no other choice than to accept their decesion to keep secrets from me.

Then, of course, as said, I met him again. The slender man. It was horrible. I started being sick, I had hallucinations, I couldn't sleep at night, I had nightmares, I became paranoid and worst of all, I knew that the slender man was always watching me. I would always see him in the corner of my eye, if not directly in front of me.

Whenever I told any of my friends, they wouldn't believe me. They ignored me and laughed at me. They told me to get a therapist or that I was insane. But I wasn't insane. I knew something horrible, something supernatural was happening to me and there was no one out there to help me.

One day, I couldn't take it. I hadn't seen the fairies in weeks, or more precisely, since the slender man had come, but I needed them now, more than ever. So I started trying to attract the fairies to my home. I painted their symbols onto my walls and hung up their flags. I put up fairy houses and all my little, sparkly trinklets out, left the lights on and put up burning candles everywhere. I put flowers anywhere I could think of and let soft music play in the background all the time.

The slender man had always been watching me as I tried desperately to make them come, but as the days went by, my hopes of finding help in the fairies started diminishing. The slender man, despite having no face, seemed to be grinning at me smugly, laughing at my pathetic attempts to get help from somewhere else, _anywhere else._

I also disliked that I could never glare at him. Whenever I turned to face him, he would disappear from sight, as if he knew my intentions. Knowing he was carefully avoiding me, while still staying present, I took this to my advantage and brought out my books on magic. If my friends wouldn't help me, so then, God help me, I'd do it myself. I should have known that no one could be trusted.

I was luckily rehearsed in magic and quite good at using it, despite a few mishaps here and there. Flipping through the pages, I tried to find a spell that could protect me from the slender man. A shudder made me look up and out the window and I realised that the slender man knew what I was doing and wasn't pleased at all. He was outside my window, on the opposite side of the street, visible to everyone, if the fleeing animals were any indication.

He started walking up to my house. He was coming for me. I blanched and quickly locked the door to the room I was in, a tiny part of me knowing that this wouldn't stop him. I needed to find a spell and fast. I heard a door slam open, probably from downstairs. It was the front door. I really, _really_ needed a spell.

I did my best to stay calm, knowing that in order to perform any magic, I needed my full concentration and a clear mind. Predator, Promises, Protection- I quickly looked up the spells listed under protection.

Protection, protection, protection...

Bloody hell, I could hear him coming up the stairs! He didn't even bother being quiet this time! He let every foot thud down loudly and... Was- was the house _vibrating_ under his footsteps? N-no, that must have just been my imagination. I bit my lip nervously and quickly read through the spells... Protection, protection, protection... I had one! I had one!

I almost shrieked when I heard the door rattle. He was far too close for comfort now. I quickly started reading the spell out loud, slowly walking to the back of the room, never letting the door out of my sight. My eyes widened as the door slowly opened and the slender man entered. I kept my voice steady and refused to stutter, glaring at the man, just in time to realise I couldn't back up any more, already touching a wall.

Slenderman started approaching me and I started chanting faster, knowing that if I didn't finish the spell by the time he reached me, I was a goner.

_You are mine, give up already. Give up. Give up, give up, give up..._ Started echoing in my head. He... He was using my mind to make me want to surrender early! But I kept chanting. He approached me and reached out for me, grinning, thinking he had won. But before he could even touch me, I finished my chant and he was forced back.

"Ha!" I said, with both relief and smugness. "Why hadn't I done that sooner? You can't harm me ever again! This spell is a specific spell to chant against any individual, in order to stop that person from harming you! You lost mister, you lost!"

I wish I had kept my mouth shut there and then. Maybe he would have let me be (Yeah right) if I had stayed silent. But instead, the slender man used my mind, my voice, to speak to me again.

_There is more than one way of hurting a person._ He then left and the weeks ahead were even worse than the ones before. Now the slender man seemed to be after my friends and family, but they couldn't see him, neither realised he was hunting them. Only I saw him approaching them. Whenever he reached out to touch them, I pulled them away and protected them as best I could. I would have cast a spell over them, but magic only works if the person is aware of the spell and believes in magic...

I was the only one though. The only one to believe in magic. So they could never truly be safe. And that knowledge was killing me.

I started having nightmares again, even night terrors. They were always about the people I cared about and the slender man and they were dreadful. Often I would wake up screaming and crying, with faded images of slow and painful deaths fresh on my mind. I had been forced to watch them slowly die at the hands of the slender man, screaming and groaning in pain, pleading me for help.

But in the dreams, I could do nothing but watch in horror. But that was only in my dreams. The reality was worse. I warned my friends and family, I begged them not to go to the forests, where their murders had often taken place, but they never listened. Then the slender man started killing them. He started killing my friends and family, slowly, painfully, with me never getting to them on time. He pratically lived off my pain, as I watched my world fall apart around me.

Whenever he killed them, he would come to me at night, bloodstained and grinning, an actual_ grin_ on his face.

_Only a few left now Arthur~_ He would purr. He would then proceed to explain to me in detail what he would do to his next victim and then softly say _I win Arthur. I win._

That always killed me. That he had already won before the fight had even begun. That I was already helpless and couldn't protect anyone, before I had the chance to do anything about it. I had already lost. And as the killings went on, I tried to stop caring. I started pushing everyone away, in hopes of protecting them from the slender man that way. But apparently, he knew me too well and knew what I was trying to do and went after them anyway.

And then I snapped. I had an idea, a brilliant one. I knew exactly how to protect them from those slow, horrible and painful deaths. I invited them all to tea one day, despite knowing that my cooking was terrible. I promised that I hadn't done any of the cooking myself this time, that I had gone to the shops, and they believed me. But I did do some "extra" cooking. To everything I had bought, I had added an extra ingredient, a special one.

When the remains of my friends and family arrived, they asked me if I was OK. If the nightmares had stopped. In truth, I felt more relief than I had in months, so I smiled at them pleasantly and answered truthfully, although, smiling made them question my sanity, because I rarely ever smiled. At the time I didn't care though, because it had been such a relief to know that they were finally going to be OK, that this nightmare would soon be over.

They sat at the table and I brought in the food and tea in, excusing my self quickly, making up a story about forgetting to make a phone call that I desperately needed to make. While they ate and drank, I stayed in the kitchen, smiling, satisfied with myself.

_I'm coming Arthur._ I heard the slender man whisper inside my head, yet again using my own voice. I smirked and leant back on my chair.

_Then come. I dare you._ I thought back. It took a while, before I knew that the slender man had arrived. The enraged scream inside my head was the give away. I entered the dining room my friends and family were in, grinning.

"I win S_lenderman_. You can't hurt me or them any more." I announced proudly, hands on hip and chest puffed out. The slender man seemed to glare at me, until I heard manical laughter inside my head. I faltered and seemed to cave in on myself.

_You think you beat _me_ Arthur? Me, Slenderman?_ The_ Slenderman?__ A supernatural creature that has existed for centuries? And you think you could really _outwit_ me? __Poor babe, don't you see what you have done? Don't you see what you did?_

I frowned at the slender man (his name was Slenderman?) and crossed my arms, glaring at him.

"No, I don't. You can't kill them in cruel or gruesome ways any more, because I got there first, I've beaten you-" And then I realised what he had done. What _I_ had done. He grinned at me, walking up to me slowly, pridefully. I couldn't move at all, as I stared at the table, with my friends and family half-lying on it, seemingly asleep.

Just that they weren't asleep. They were dead. At my hand. Slenderman had tricked me into killing my own friends and family. All of them.

"No..." I managed to choke out, feeling like thousands of sharps swords had dug themselves into my body and were slowly twisting to cause more pain, my mind screaming with denial and agony. Slenderman continued grinning sadistically and placed two of his hands onto my shoulders.

"Dear Arthur, I think you will make a good assistant, don't you?"

And there and then, my world shattered. I was left with nothing. Nothing but the Slenderman. Wanker.

* * *

**I had a plot bunny attack and ended up writing this, despite there being a ton of other stuff I should be doing.**

**Anyway, the idea of "Slenderman's Assistant", is that Slenderman can feed more if he has assitance than if he had to do it all by himself and also he doesn't have to do all the work when assisted (so he can take on more than one victim at once). The assistants often don't have any other choice than to be Slenderman's assistant, as you can see with Arthur, who has partly lost his mind(?) and ended up killing his friends and family.**

**If I were to continue this, another assistant would be Gilbert and anyone else I decide to throw into the ride. Also, as an assistant you reach a "supernatural" status, so you're not completely human any more and live longer than a normal human (you also stop aging... But you can die of old age XD)  
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**I hope you enjoyed my little One-Shot. XD  
**

**Review?  
**


	2. Has No Eyes

"This is boring." Alfred whined, throwing his maths book away from the table, it landing near the bin. His friends looked at him with deep frowns on their faces, well, apart from Feliciano, who's face was buried deep inside a book about the history of pasta.

"Alfred, I know this is boring, but we have spent a good hour learning for this and we've made no progress." Ludwig replied, frowning.

"But this is _boring_..." Alfred whined, pouting. Ludwig let out a deep, heavy sigh and looked at the others for help. Kiku hurriedly shook his head, not wanting to get involved and Feliciano provided absolutely no help. Felix seemed to have drifted off into space and Toris looked away awkwardly, leaving Ludwig alone to deal with the chlidish American.

Sighing, Ludwig got to his feet and slammed his fists down on the table. He really didn't want to do this, but he had no other choice. Alfred was simply far too stubborn for his own good.

"Listen Jones, you need to pass maths or you won't become an astronaut and then you won't be a hero and then you'll be one big lie, _get_ it?" Ludwig snapped, glaring down at the American. Alfred seemed to flinch, then hurriedly picked up his pen and scribbled down what he needed to know for the test.

"See! It's boring _and_ I can do it now! No need to spend time studying it no more!" Alfred laughed nervously and tried to get up, but Ludwig forced him back into his seat.

"You forgot a minus here and this variable is supposed to be multiplied by this one and everything is divided by two, not three." Ludwig pointed out, frowning. Alfred frowned at Ludwig and corrected his mistakes hurriedly.

"Yeah, yeah, so I made a small mistake, I'm sure it won't happen again." Alfred replied, shrugging. "Now can we just hang out now? I'm fed up with all this studying. It's boring!" he complained, looking away.

"You'd better let him. When he gets like this, nothing can snap him out of it." Toris hurriedly explained, already seeing that Ludwig was about to blow it.

"Hm, what? Is study time over?" Feliciano asked, putting his book down slowly, having just finished reading a chapter. Before Ludwig could even shake his head, Felix spoke up, as if he hadn't zoned out at all.

"That's totally brilliant! Hey, Alfie, I like, bought this horror game recently, since we, like, finished the last one a week ago and we can, like, totally try it out now!" He said excitedly, already digging in his (man)bag for the game. Alfred shot up, with a big, sloppy grin on his face.

"Awesome! Come on, let's try it out now! Kiku, where's the TV room again?"

Kiku frowned and looked at his parent's house, remembering how there were a lot of precious objects on display and that Alfred and Felix were... They weren't the most elegant of people.

"... I'd better go with them or they might damage something." Kiku whispered to Ludwig, getting up and leading the two teens away from the work space, trying to stop the two from bubbling over with exictement (and failing).

Ludwig let out a deep sigh. He didn't get how those two were even passing their classes, then again, those two were _special _children, with the habit of learning the night before the test and then passing the tests with good marks the next day.

"Don't worry Ludwig. At least you don't have to deal with them all the time." Toris commented, noticing how the German looked liked he wanted to die on the spot. Ludwig gave him a forced and pained smile, which Toris politely returned, his smile a bit uncomfortable and nervous. The Lithuanian then hurriedly ran after his two friends, a music player and book in hand.

"Ve~ Come on Luddie!" Feliciano said excitedly, getting out of his seat and trying to drag the German behind him. Ludwig broke free from his friend's grip with ease and shook his head.

"No, I'll tidy this place up quickly, before Kiku's parents get back. You go ahead, OK?" Feliciano looked a bit upset about it, but even the smallest things could upset the Italian.

"Ve~ OK!" The Italian finally said, smiling brightly at Ludwig, before running off. Ludwig once again sighed and started gathering his things into a neat pile, before cleaning up his friends' messes.

He started putting his friends' things into their respective school bags, when he dropped Toris' books, papers flying everywhere, much to his annoyance.

"Ach, ne..." He muttered frustrated and frowning. He got to his knees and started picking the fallen pages up, muttering German curses under his breath, sometimes wondering how he had managed to be so clumsy. That is, until he noticed a small doodle on one of his Lithanian friend's papers. It looked like a head, with two crosses placed where the eyes should be.

There was also some odd writing next to the picture, though those were hard to decipher.

_Always watches, no__ eyes._

_... Ok, that's strange._ Ludwig thought, confused with Toris' doodles. He then sighed and simply put the pages back into Toris' books and placed them on the table, going back to sorting everything out else, shrugging off what he had seen and read.

He didn't think that Toris was weird, but he knew that Toris wanted to be a writer and... Well, all writers were just a little weird, if his dad wasn't proof enough.

* * *

"So, I like, heard of this game called "Slenderman", it's like, totally rad right now." Felix whispered to Alfred, who slowly moved down a corridor in the game, eery music playing in the background.

"Yeah?" Alfred asked, with only half-interest, busy wondering whether the game's monster would jump out anytime soon. Felix, not noticing Alfred's lack of attention, continued wittering on, as if he were talking about the weather.

"Mhm, it's a free horror game, downloadable from the net and it, like, sounds like it's worth a go."

"Oh. What happens in it?" Toris asked from behind the couch, much to everyone's surprise.

"Ve~, I thought you didn't like horror games?" Feliciano asked, looking at Toris, who was still holding a torch over his book, his music player turned to soft, calming music that tuned out his friends' screams ever so beautifully.

"W-well yeah, but... Slenderman sounds interesting?"

"Hm..." Felix replied, but decided to shrug it off. "Well, you, like, totally have to collect these eight pages, while being hunted by this, like, tall, slender guy, named Slenderman and he, like, totally has no face whatsoever and wears a suit."

"Oh." Toris mumbled and looked away, paling, not that anyone noticed.

"Sounds OK, but it's not worth playing if there aren't any zombies or monsters in it." Alfred replied, before letting out a (manly) scream, seeing a monster at the end of the digital corridor.

"Run Alfred, run!" Felix and Feliciano both cried out hysterically, Alfred likewise panicking. Kiku rolled his eyes, not really that affected by the game's fear-factor and continued surfing the net on his laptop (many wondered why he didn't get scared playing horror, but no one had ever mustered up the courage to ask. They were all too scared of the answer).

Toris frowned and did his best to ignore them, going back to blocking out most of the noise with music and reading.

"Ok, OK, hiding in the closet, hiding in the closet, we should be safe here..." Alfred whimpered, the three unconsciously leaning forward in suspense. The music was fast-beat and quietly harsh, like heavy breathing. It was very suspenseful and tense, becoming louder, then quieter, never hinting when it was safe to leave the closet.

They heard footsteps and a door creaking open. The monster was in the room. Their breaths were loud and heavy, as they tried their bests to stay quiet, hoping the monster wouldn't find them. They could hear it thudding over, the footsteps loud and heavy.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

"Hallo, how far-" Ludwig said, before the other three let out a scream, Alfred accidentally leaping out the wardrobe (in the game) and getting killed by the monster. Alfred and Felix both let out a disappointed groan, while Feliciano whimpered.

"What? Didn't you hear me come in?" Ludwig asked, frowning.

"He did knock." Kiku added, supporting his German friend.

"But you always come in at the most inappropriate moments Luddie. ... Like, are you doing this delibaretly?" Felix asked, frowning. Ludwig shook his head and sat down on the sofa.

"It's not my fault if your screams deafen your own ears. And how was I to know it was a suspenseful, nerve-wrecking moment?" Ludwig asked, shrugging.

"Good point." Alfred replied, reloading the game. "Anyone else want to try?" He then asked. Everyone shook their heads, knowing that Alfred only asked, so as to not seem selfish enough to let no one else play. The truth was, however, that he wasn't allowed to game at home, so whenever he was at a friends, playing a one-player game, he would always insist on being the player. He never let anyone else play, but himself.

"Oh, ok." He said, giving out a sigh of relief. Toris cleared his throat and got up.

"Er... Since you'll only be playing horror games from now on, I hope you don't mind me leaving." Toris asked, smiling nervously.

"But Liet! It's no fun without you!" Felix quickly gasped with horror, jumping to his friend's side.

"... But... I don't feel so good." Toris slowly said, softly brushing Felix's hands off his arms. Felix pouted and looked away annoyed.

"Gee, coulda, like, told me sooner..." Felix muttered. "If you're feeling ill, why didn't you, like, just say earlier?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I, in fact, only just started feeling it." Toris explained, looking out the window, his eyes focusing on... something. Ludwig and Feliciano looked out of it, but only saw the snow of a harsh cold coming winter outside.

"Anyway, I'll call you if I can't come tomorrow, otherwise, see you guys tomorrow! Oh, and Kiku, say "hi" to your parents for me."

"I will." Kiku replied, giving Toris a nod. Toris waved nervously, then darted out of the room, leaving the others alone.

"... I think we should get Slenderman and play it... Since Toris isn't here, we might as well have a horror marathon." Alfred commented after a while, getting to the place he'd died in moments ago.

"I, like, agree." Felix said, making himself comfy on the couch again. Kiku and Ludwig groaned, while Feliciano took Toris' place behind the sofa, shivering.

"Good, so after we complete this we play Slenderma-Ah! How did that monster find me, I locked it in the basement!"

* * *

Toris frowned, as he went through the google search list. Slenderman was his first lead to the guy who was haunting him in his dreams. Tall, slender and faceless. Toris even saw him standing outside the window now! Tall, faceless and wearing a black suit. That was who he was.

A slender man. The slender man. Slenderman.

However, his finds were not pleasing. If the thing chasing him in and out of his dreams was the Slenderman, then he was pretty much doomed. No one had recorded any way of stopping the Slenderman from getting them and apparently, before Slenderman came after his prey, he would always... _Mark_ them. Not mark them as such, but he would meet them as a child, before coming after them years later...

But he had never met Slenderman before! Other than in his dreams... And now in reality. Toris sighed, looking up at the ceiling defeated. So he was going to die a slow and painful death, wonderful. This situation couldn't get any better. Failing education, feeling ill most of the time (Slender sickness?) and to top it all off, Slenderman himself. Sighing, he typed into google "Slenderman victims", wanting to see the full horrors of it.

But instead of looking up symptoms and end results, Toris stumbled across a link, which said "Help me, Slenderman is after me. No joke. I'm serious." Toris curiously clicked the link and much to his surprise, came onto a blogging site. There were barely any responses, other than maybe an "lol, ur so funy dude". Apparently, this was posted by Tino Väinämöinen, who was Finnish, but lived in the UK.

Toris bit his lip, then clicked on the reply box. The post was recent, only a couple weeks old... Surely, the Slenderman didn't kill his victims off so quickly, did he? So Tino should still be alive... But he surely didn't take on two at once right? Toris let out a deep sigh, typing in his reply.

"Are you serious? ... Because I think he's after me too. No joke either."

Toris clicked the send button and turned off the computer, leaning back in his chair. He needed to think things through. The Lithuanian wasn't one to believe in the supernatural, but he had been having horrifiying dreams and nightmares, the constant feeling of being watched and actually saw beings that weren't actually there.

Other than being insane, the only thing to explain what was happening to him was Slenderman... But he had never met him in his childhood, so what was up with that?

Or maybe... Maybe he simply couldn't remember?

Toris looked at the black screen of his computer, then almost let out a scream, seeing a blank face at his window, wearing a black suit. He turned in his chair, but when he turned around, nothing was there. He looked back at the computer screen's reflection, but likewise, nothing was there.

Toris whimpered and left his room hurriedly, dialling Raivis.

"Hi Raivis. Oh, hello Eduard, it's nice to hear you guys again. Raivis, can I stay at your place for a while? ... I can? Thanks... Thank you so much! Well, bye!" He then hung up and left his house, feeling nervous and worried and scared.

He bit his lip and whimpered softly, as in his mind, he whispered to himself _"And this is only the beginning Toris. Only the beginning_."

Wait...

... Was that really his voice?

* * *

**It seems I forgot to tick "Slenderman's Assistant" off as a COMPLETE story. ^^; So now I'll have to continue it to its full, wonderful length...  
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**I have a rough idea where I want to go with this and it will be considerably shorter than I plan to write the Magician, so I guess I can take it on board. Also, it'll be easier to write, because of the wonderful switching perspectives ability I have here.  
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**... But where the fudge am I going with this? Don't look at me like I know the answer! Honestly, I'm making this up as I go along (well no, as said, I have a _vague_ idea)**

**Anyway, the word limit per chapter is 2000-3000 words, which is shorter than even Human Curiosity, but therefore, I think updates are faster. :) I hope you'll enjoy this story and will leave bucket loads of reviews to prove it~  
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**Review?  
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	3. Keep Its Secrets

It had been several weeks since Toris had gotten into contact with Tino. As it turned out, the Finnish guy lived nearby and since both of them seemed to have the same... Problems with Slenderman... They agreed to set up a date to meet up.

All Toris could say was that he was glad he and Tino agreed to meet up the day they made contact. You see, from then on, he was unable to get a hold on Tino. At all. Whenever he tried to get some kind of contact with him, something would always stop him.

Toris felt that this had a lot to do with Slenderman, but he didn't voice it, since his friends didn't believe him when he claimed Slenderman really existed. He sighed and took a sip of his coffee, deep in thought. Of course, it would make sense for Slenderman to stop him from getting in contact with Tino. Knowing that he wasn't alone out there had been a great comfort to him, so he assumed Slenderman didn't want him to be in contact with anyone else who believed in Slenderman.

But did this mean Slenderman went after several victims at once? Because that really wouldn't make sense. If you're in a hopeless situation, it was always a comfort to know you're not alone. Didn't Slenderman know that?

Then again, knowing that he could no longer get in contact with Tino, he assumed Slenderman probably did know. But if Slenderman knew, why did he let Tino and Toris get in contact in the first place? What caused the slip-up? If Toris wasn't supposed to find out, what had happened to enable him?

Well, he could talk to Tino about it soon. Finally, someone he could openly talk to about Slenderman, without being called a loony.

He and Tino had agreed to meet at a coffee shop, that wasn't too well-known, but not so unknown that there weren't very many customers. Neither wanted to meet each other in a crowdless place, in case the other was a creep who wanted to rape them.

Of course, this wasn't precaution enough, so Toris had brought Felix and Alfred with him to the meeting place, though Alfred had already wandered off, having gotten rather bored of waiting. Toris looked around, scanning the crowd for someone wearing a light blue coat and a white beret, with blonde hair and violet eyes, but finding no one. He himself was wearing a green trench coat, in order to stand out more.

Then again, Felix had a green coat on too... Sighing Toris continued scanning. No sign of Tino, and the Finnish man was now fifteen minutes late. This was relatively unnerving and worrisome. Felix had already eaten three slices of cakes and Alfred had come back twice to see if anything had happened.

The door chimed and Toris quickly turned to see who it was. It wasn't Tino. A child entered, skipping in and walking up to the counter. The kid asked for a huge slice of chocolate. Sighing Toris turned his attention to Felix again, who had started on a new slice of cake, while texting in the other hand.

Toris was about to continue waiting with growing impatience and worry, when the boy from earlier walked up to them, eating his recently bought slice of cake.

"Are you Toris Laurinwhatever?" The kid asked. Felix looked confused at the boy, Toris even more so. Was... Was this Tino? But it couldn't be, Tino had told him he was twenty years old! Then again, the kid, whom he had never met before, knew his name... And you didn't have to say the truth about yourself on the net...

But... He... Why...?

"Are you Toris?" The child repeated, annoyed that Toris hadn't replied.

"Er... Yes?" Toris asked confused. "Are you...?" He then continued, not daring to finish the question. The boy snickered and shook his head, smiling up brightly.

"Nope" He said, finishing his chocolate cake in one gulp (his eating habits reminded him of Alfreds... Just not as bad). The child then cleaned his hands and held one out.

"I'm Peter! Tino sent me. He said to give you this letter. He doesn't feel well enough to come and meet you." Peter explained, shaking Toris' hand.

"What? He, like, sent a kid to meet, like, total complete strangers to, like, tell them he's not coming? What if we were, like, pedo-" Felix started to ask, now finally finding his words, despite his whole stranger-phobia thing. Then again, this was a kid, so it was a little different. Maybe he was only afraid of adult strangers?

"Nope he didn't _actually_ send me... He sent Berwald, but I figured that if he went to meet you, you'd never want to have anything to do with Tino again, so I came instead!" Peter replied cheerfully. "It also meant I got to buy some chocolate cake, so it was definitely a good idea!"

Toris and Felix both stared at the boy in morbid shock at his recklessness, but said nothing.

"Oh, er... Well, don't do it again. Not until you're at least a little... Bigger."

"But I'm already big!" Peter replied, frowning.

"What he, like, meant was when you're, like, older." Felix said for Toris.

"But I'm already old enough! I'm turning thirteen next year!"

"Really? I thought you were, like, nine..."

"I'm not nine! I'm twelve!"

"Anyway, can I see the letter?" Toris quickly interrupted, wanting to get this over and done with as soon as possible. He could see Slenderman watching him from the opposite side of the street and he didn't like it. Peter nodded and took out the letter, handing it to the Lithuanian.

"What does it say?" Felix asked curiously, leaning over to read it, but Toris quickly pulled it away, so the Polish boy couldn't read it.

"For my eyes only, sorry." Toris said apologetically, not wanting his friend to read it.

"Don't worry." Peter replied, smiling. "It's just some weird stuff about this guy called Slenderman or something."

"Peter!" Toris gasped out, horrified, having not expected Peter to have already read the letter, let alone blab it out. Felix looked confused between Peter and Toris, then asked "You mean the monster from that Slender game?"

"Yeah, that one!" Peter said, smiling. Toris sighed and continued reading, as Felix and Peter started talking about this Slender horror game (wasn't Peter too young for horror games?). To his surprise, Tino had indeed had similar ideas and thoughts about Slenderman and had tried to give Toris as much information as he could. Apparently, the Slenderman had been after him for about three years now, but he hadn't been taken yet.

However, he had fallen ill a lot and was never alone now. He was afraid of ever being alone, because, according to the letter, Slenderman only came after you when alone. He had even made his best friend... Berwald, the guy Peter had mentioned earlier, move in with him and even go so far as to share a bed with him.

It sounded pretty serious. Toris gulped and put the letter in one of his inside pockets, so the snow wouldn't get to it.

"OK, did Tino say anything else?" Toris asked, but realised he was being ignored. He cleared his throat and got their attention.

"Like, what's up Liet?" Felix asked.

"I just want to ask Peter something."

"Ah, OK."

"Peter, did Tino say anything else?"

"Yeah, he said you two won't be able to get in contact, or he'll take you. You have to feel like you're alone. Whatever that means." Peter said, shrugging. Toris seemed to pale and felt like crying when he heard that.

"O-oh." He mumbled, then looked away, biting his lip. He bit down hard when he saw Slenderman standing right outside the window of the coffee shop. He quickly swallowed his yelp of surprise and pain down and looked away, afraid.

"O-OK, thank you Peter. Come on Felix, let's go." Toris said, getting up, wanting to go back home fast, to his room with ten locks on all and any exits.

"OK, like, call me if you, like, need anything." Felix said to Peter, patting the child on his head. Wait... Had the two just become friends? No...

Toris walked closely behind Felix as they left, looking around and everywhere, to see where Slenderman was, feeling very, very afraid.

"Er... W-we'd better go and get Alfred." Toris muttered to Felix, once they had left the coffee shop. Slenderman was still outside the shop's window, but was facing Toris, instead of the shop. Toris kept his eyes trained on him, while placing a hand on Felix's shoulder. He would have liked to have glared at him, but the poor guy was too scared to do anything but stand there, while shaking out of fear.

Felix and Peter didn't notice, as they talked to each other happily, before Peter waved goodbye and left. As Peter walked away, he ran into a tall guy, in a suit. Toris looked around and paled, before soon regaining his colour. It wasn't Slenderman.

"Oh, hello Berwald!" Peter said, smiling. "I'm guessing you're not happy I gave you the slip, huh? But what about Tino? I thought he didn't let you leave him alone any more?"

"Ed'ard's look'n' 'fter h'm." This Berwald explained, frowning. "C'me 'n." He then said, in his ununderstandable mumble.

Toris and Felix both paled, knowing for sure that they most definitely wouldn't have even looked at Berwald, had he come instead of Peter. Peter smiled up at Berwald, then grabbed his hand.

"Come on bro, let's go!" Peter said, pulling at Berwald's arm. The man gave a tired sigh and followed. Ah. So Berwald was Peter's brother? That was interesting.

"Come on Felix, let's go and find Alfred." Toris spoke up, turning around, just in time to hear a high-pitched scream from behind him.

Toris turned around at once, confused by the noise, but soon felt like screaming himself. They stared in horror as they watched a car crashing into someone, right in front of their eyes. However, Toris was more shocked than Felix or anyone else on the street, because this person wasn't just any old person.

It was Slenderman.

Just that... It wasn't Slenderman. The car screeched, more screams emitted from people's throats, as they watched a pale man get hit by a car. Toris vaguely noticed Alfred watch directly opposite the man, his mouth unhung, but instead of just staring in horror, he also looked shocked and confused.

The crash went by in a snap, but the aftermath seemed to move in slow motion. Toris and Felix, without thinking, ran up to the hurt man, while everyone else seemed to take their phones out and call an ambulance.

But a moment ago that man had been Slenderman!... Right? Toris frowned in confusion. He could have sworn that that had been Slenderman... He was still wearing a suit and he was very, very pale. But... He quite obviously had a face and he also had hair and a pair of glasses...

Despite the crash, there were no physical injuries anywhere. Alfred stood by their sides, as they looked down at the unconscious man, while the driver inspected him.

"H-he's alive and OK." She said after a while, before standing up and walking away, while mumbling "What have I done, what have I done, what have I done?" A passerby walked up to her and told her it wasn't her fault, that the man had suddenly walked out into the street, without looking to see where he was going.

It had been the man's fault, not hers.

The three standing around the Slenderman (lookalike?) ignored them, and just stared down in shock.

"W-what happened?" Toris finally asked, kneeling down. Maybe he had been imagining things? Maybe Slenderman had only been regular men in suits and he... He really was going insane? The glasses the man was wearing were broken, the lenses lying shattered everywhere. Then Toris finally realised something else, that was rather strange about the man.

"... Why does he, like, look like you?" Felix asked Alfred, confused. Alfred opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Alfred was speechless (which was, by the way, a miracle).

"B-before the crash, h-he said my name..." Alfred finally managed to mumble out, his hand already reaching out to touch the unconscious man. _Stranger and stranger..._ Toris thought, but before he could continue, two men seemed to violently push him, Felix and Alfred out the way. At first Toris thought they were paramedics, but as it turned out, they were more pale men in black suits. And they were _very_ pale.

Like the one, lying unconscious on the ground.

Alfred tried to fight back, apparently _really_ not wanting to be pushed away from the unconscious man, but one of the pale men forced him back violently, glaring at him when he tried to move back to his original position. The man said nothing, but must have been very intimidating, despite his height, since Alfred had backed off.

It was surreal, watching this. The men were strange, they were too pale for it to be... Natural _or_ healthy. Even their eye's seemed a pale, fragile colour. Like they had been bleached.

One of the men, one with pure white hair, was trying to wake the unconscious man up, while the other made sure no one else came close, repeatedly saying "Alright, nothing to see here!". It seemed to work, saying that, since many people left the scene, carrying on with their usual lives.

"Come on Mattie, wake up..." The one with white hair said, picking up the man a little and shaking him.

"Hey, you shouldn't do that, what if his neck's broken?" One of the onlookers, who didn't leave when asked, shouted. The intimidating man turned to the onlooker and growled out "I told you, there is _nothing_ to see here. Carry on with your life."

After that, the last of the spectators finally left, the glaring man finally being scary enough for them to leave. Everyone but Toris, Alfred and Felix that is. Speaking of Alfred, the American seemed to have glazed over after hearing the name "Mattie" being used in context with the man on the ground. Toris looked at his friend confused and walked over to him.

"Uh, Alfred?" He asked, waving a hand in front of him. Alfred didn't reply, seeming to have left the world.

"Mmh, wha-?" Mattie (that was his name, right?) asked, amazingly waking up. He rubbed his face, then the back of his head, before looking at the man half-holding him.

"Oh thank God, you're awake." The white-haired man said with relief. "Come on kid, we've got to go. Can you get up?"

"'I think so... What happened?" Mattie asked, slowly getting to his feet, finding out that he was slightly unsteady on them.

"You were being a careless twat, that's what." The glaring man said, coming over to help his friend (they were friends, right?) Both pale men helped Mattie steady himself on his feet; though when they removed the support, he started wobbling again.

"B-but wait, Gil... Artie..." Mattie mumbled, but the two ignored him. Mattie looked around, obviously searching for something, but soon gave a sad, depressed sigh. He must have not found what he was looking for. Mattie relaxed into his friends' hold once again, without saying anything, letting them control where he went.

No one stopped them as they walked off, with Mattie using the two men (Gil and Artie?) for support. Toris watched in confusion, much like the driver and the bystander who had come to comfort her. They heard sirens in the distance, as the men entered a park, opposite the coffee shop and the street, in which the accident had occured. They watched them walk over to some trees in the park and enter them...

Then they were gone. Out of sight, but not out of mind.

"Er... Come on Alfred, let's go." Toris tried again, finally snapping out a trance he seemed to have fallen into.

"Huh?" Alfred finally asked, now back in the real world too. Toris sighed and said nothing, looking back at the site of the accident. That... What he had just seen made no sense, whatsoever. The three left as fast as possible, with Toris trying to figure out what had just happened.

... Who had those three been?

And why... Why did one of them know Alfred's name?

* * *

**XD Worst. Ending. EVER. But nevermind, eh?  
**

**I considered making Sweden Sealand's father, which is apparently a canon, but Sweden's only 21. He would have had to have been Nine when Sealand was born, so that's the reason why he's not Peter's dad in this fanfiction. :3 Also, he's Peter's adoptive older brother, just to clear things up.**

**I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I don't plan on making this a "gem" under fanfictions (in other words, I'm not putting loads of effort into this), it's just my story-toy, which is fast-paced and short. ... But it's still lovable, right? Just saying it won't always be wonderfully brilliant. :3  
**

**So, will you Review? Please?  
**


	4. You Shan't Die

"What is wrong with you?" Gilbert demanded, after he and Arthur set Mattie down on a rock. The Canadian sighed, frowning.

"Nothing…" He mumbled uncertainly, while fiddling with the rim of his suit's jacket.

"_Nothing?_ Matthew, you let yourself get run over by an _automobile_." Arthur snapped, not at all impressed. "What if Slenderman had seen that, hm? What do you think would have happened?"

"Well er…"

"He would have thought you had tried committing _suicide._" Arthur continued impatiently. "Do you know what happened to the last person who tried to do that?"

"Er-"

"He _fed_ off her_._ Consumed her whole, he _killed_ her. And if he had seen you doing that, he would have done the same to you! Do you _want _him to kill you? Because you _know_ what his killing methods are. You know _exactly_ how he kills. It takes months, sometimes even years until you are completely dead."

"Well, er…"

"So what were you _thinking_?" Arthur asked, exasperatedly.

"I…"

"Well?"

"Well I… I just thought… Well, when I was stalking Toris, I thought I saw someone I once knew." He tried to explain. Arthur and Gilbert both looked at each other, sharing a look, _the_ look of worry and sad understanding, as if they had been through this before. They then looked back at the Canadian.

"Mattie… You do remember the reason why we're here, don't you?" Gilbert asked, his arms wide open to show the shadowy, dark forests around them. Slenderman's forest, the place he inhabited when he wasn't stalking. It was also the place he took his prey to kill them. At first he didn't, having preferred the normal, regular forests, but later, for unknown reasons, he decided to kill them in his home instead. Matthew slowly nodded, frowning.

"Well… Yes… But-"

"Then it couldn't have been anyone you once knew, could it?" Arthur asked. "Just… It was just a doppelganger. They do exist you know."

"B-but he turned around and _looked at me_ when I called him!" Mattie quickly defended, disliking the fact that Arthur and Gilbert were turning him down so quickly.

"Matthew-"

"He was even wearing that bomber jacket from all those years ago!"

"Mattie, listen-"

"Same hair colour, eye colour… Same glasses!"

"Matthew-!"

"Maybe even the same height and weight and he makes the same shocked and confused expression, and-!"

"MATTHEW!"

"W-what?"

"Who did you think it was?" Arthur asked slowly, calmly, crossing his arms.

"… I thought it was my brother, Alfred." Mattie finally admitted. Arthur sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead. Gilbert was frowning, which meant he found this whole situation very distressing. It was strange for him to act anything but… Annoying.

"Matthew, I asked you if you remembered why we are here."

"Well, yes, I know. I know why we're here-"

"Then you should also know that Alfred, your _brother_, is… He's dead. And he's been that for a long time.

"But-"

"Mattie, do us a favour and just drop it. Forget this even happened. Arthur, if you could takeover Toris again? Apparently it's better if we stick to the usual of you watching over that Lithuanian, while I and Mattie go back to Tino."

"Agreed. But first, one of us should do some damage control." Arthur replied after a while. "Make sure no one remembers anything about that car accident. We don't want to risk Slenderman finding out about this. Gilbert, do you think you can takeover Toris and leave Mattie alone with Tino?"

"Fine. Though, wouldn't it make more sense if I did the damage control? I'm more awesome and experienced, after all."

"No. You may be more experienced, but you're forgetting one thing."

"Oh yeah? What?"

"Unlike you, Slenderman doesn't expect me to drop dead at any given moment. See you later." Arthur replied, walking away into the mists, before either Matthew or Gilbert had the chance to stop him. Gilbert sighed annoyed, but then returned his attention back to Mattie.

"Well? Do you promise to pretend this never happened?" He asked. Mattie looked up at Gilbert, with an uncertain frown on his face.

"… I… I promise." He mumbled after a pause. Gilbert nodded with approval, then sat down next to the Canadian on the rock.

"I see your glasses are broken. Can you still see alright?" Gilbert asked concerned.

"… Not really, no." Mattie replied, with his usual, quiet voice. Gilbert sighed and looked at the frames, the lenses no longer there. "I'll ask Slenderman to repair these… It's a good thing this isn't the first time you've broken your glasses. Or else he might have been suspicious… Mattie?"

"Yes?"

"This is our little secret, OK? You mustn't tell _anyone_ about what happened today, OK?"

"OK." Mattie agreed, nodding.

"Good. Now, let's go, before Tino or Toris thinks they're finally rid of us. Do you think you can survive without these for a while?" The Canadian slowly nodded again. The Prussian gave a sound of approval, then got up and left, while whistling an annoying tune to himself.

Much like Arthur, the Prussian soon disappeared in the mists, the song fading as he vanished from sight.

Mattie bit his lip and looked around the forests, feeling a little guilty. He wasn't going to forget what had happened that day, liked he had promised.

That had been Alfred. He was dead certain.

And since his friends refused to believe him, he'd have to prove them wrong.

* * *

"Alfred, we brought you hamburgers." Kiku said, knocking on the American's door.

"Go away. 'm not hungry." Alfred replied, somewhere from within his locked room. The others gasped in shock, never having heard their American friend turn down a decent(?) hamburger before.

"This is more serious than we thought." Ludwig commented, frowning.

"His parents had the right thing in mind to call us over." Toris mumbled thoughtfully.

"Like, Alfred, I've got a new horror game we can play, if you like, let us in." Feliks tried bribing, but all he got in reply was a childish "Nuh-uh!"

"Ve~ How about some pasta, Alfred? You like Alfred, si? I can make some!" Feliciano asked, but again, only a negative reply was given.

"Hey, like, how long do you think it will be, until Ludwig, like, finally loses it?" Feliks asked Toris, who shrugged.

"He's managed to stay pretty calm up until now, so who knows? Usually he would have snapped about an hour ago." The Lithuanian replied. Feliks nodded in agreement, soon trying to bribe Alfred out of his room again.

After more failed attempts, Ludwig finally lost it.

They had been trying for three hours now, enough was enough.

"Alfred, open this door!"

"No!"

"You're making us worried sick!"

"No!"

"Stop acting like a child!"

"No!"

"Alfred, if you don't open this door right now, I swear I will storm in and kill you!"

"No!"

"I'M BEING SERIOUS. I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU!"

"NO!"

"Du bist so eine hochnäsige Rotznase, weisst du das?"

"I haven't got a clue what you just said, but my answer is still no!"

"I will find a way into your room and force you out!" Ludwig threatened.

"Don't care!"

"I don't make threats, I make promises!"

"I _still_ don't care!" Alfred snapped back.

"Fine! But this is all your on fault!" Ludwig snapped back. Toris frowned nervously and looked at Feliks, Kiku and Feliciano, to see their thoughts on the matter. They too were uncomfortable about Ludwig's reaction to Alfred. But they had been expecting it for a while and it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. Once Ludwig had finished his shouting match with Alfred, he turned to them, looking like he would explode with anger.

"Toris, I will need your help to find a ladder, Feli, you go and get the super-delux burger from McDonalds, and Feliks, I want you to go and find a tool box." He ordered, not giving anyone room to complain.

"Um... What about me, Ludwig-san?" Kiku asked.

"You keep Alfred distracted. We don't want him blocking our other way in." Ludwig replied, hurrying down the stairs, with Toris running after him. Feliks looked at the others and shrugged, before running off too, dragging Feliciano with him. Kiku sighed and sat down at the bottom of Alfred's door, feeling a little disappointed at being stuck doing nothing but talking to Alfred.

"You know Alfred-san, this burger really is good." Kiku said sniffing at the burger suspiciously, trying to find some sort of conversation starter.

"I don't care!" Alfred lied, although the American sounded a little desperate. Again, the Japanese man sighed, knowing that the rest of the afternoon would be very, _very_ long.

* * *

He was there again.

Slenderman.

Ludwig was in the shed, looking for a ladder and while the German had disappeared, Toris had suddenly felt that horrid presence in the garden.

He didn't dare turn and look for Slenderman, too afraid to actually see the tall man, with his faceless head. Feeling Slenderman around him was already enough to put Toris in a lot of discomfort, nevermind how Toris felt when he could actually _see_ Slenderman.

He really hated the situation he was currently in. He couldn't do anything about Slenderman, other than wait for his life to finally end, which wasn't the nicest thing in the world. According to other accounts on the net, you couldn't commit suicide when Slenderman was stalking you. He'd most definitely stop you before you could commit the act.

It was horrible. He made it absolutely clear that there was absolutely _nothing_ you could do against him.

Nothing.

Or at least, that's what it had been like for all those... Other people. And Tino, it seemed (though, Slenderman had yet to steal him away).

Actually, Tino still being around was very... Odd. It wasn't odd that Tino had been stalked for years now, that happened, but it was odd that there were two victims.

How come there were two? Shouldn't Slenderman be taking on one at a time?

No one on the net had reported Slenderman taking on more than one before.

While Ludwig searched for a ladder and Slenderman watched him in his typical, passive and creepy manner, Toris started thinking about the day the Slender-lookalike got runover by a car. Now that he thought about it, he was absolutely certain that the guy... Mattie? Had been Slenderman.

But if that man had been Slenderman, then that made even less sense than it had before. Also, what if those two men who came to Mattie's aid had also been Slenderman? They had looked just like him, after all... Pale, black suits... But that just made the previous theory look like it was the most logical thing on Earth! He just couldn't make head or tails of anything that was happening to him, at the present.

Toris frowned, noticing that Slenderman had come closer. Toris slowly turned around, searching for Slenderman. He was afraid that the man in a black suit would reach him. He wasn't going to let Slenderman out of his sight now.

"I found one!" Ludwig suddenly said, making Toris look away.

"OK, that's great! Bring it out!" Toris yelled back, then looked back to Slenderman, only to hurriedly take a step back. Slenderman was only a few feet away from him now, too close for comfort.

"W-why can't you leave me alone?" Toris asked, shaking out of fear. Slenderman didn't reply, not that he was able to, with that faceless head of his.

"OK, Toris, I'm going to need you to help me set this up outside Alfred's window." Ludwig announced, leaving the shed. He didn't see Slenderman at all, walking up the steps, through the garden and upto Alfred's house, not that Toris wasn't used to this. No one but he could see Slenderman (and Tino. Let's not forget the Finish guy).

"Toris?" Ludwig asked again, turning to Toris. Only this time, his attention didn't focus on Toris. Toris looked confused and realised, he had once again stopped looking at Slenderman.

Only, when he looked to Slenderman, the monster was no longer there. Instead, it was that man from the car accident, not Mattie, but the one who had been begging Mattie to wake up. Gil, wasn't it? Strange name really. _I can remember his name?_ Toris briefly thought, surprised at his ability to remember. But he only thought about that briefly.

Gil stared at Ludwig, his mouth agape, while Ludwig stared back, looking like his mind had stopped working and confused at the same time. Gil's pink (or faded red?) eyes widened, while the rest of his body went limp. Eventually, Gil opened his mouth and managed to say something.

"L... L... L... Luddie?" Gil finally asked. At this, Ludwig only looked more confused, as he gently put the ladder down, never letting his gaze leave Gil. He took a step towards the white-haired man, with a calculating expression on his face. At this action, Gil automatically took a step back, as if afraid of Ludwig.

This confused Toris. He understood that Ludwig could be very intimidating at times, but if Gil was Slenderman, as seemed to be possible, then why would Gil be afraid of Ludwig?

"Do I know you?" Ludwig asked after a pause. Gil only blanched (if that was at all possible), before vanishing into thin air, just like that, making both Toris and Ludwig gasp in surprise. If Ludwig had still been holding the ladder, he would have dropped it by now.

"Did... Did I just see a ghost?" Ludwig said after a while, as he stared at the place Gil had once been standing in. Toris doubted it, and pointed at the grass the Slenderman (and Gil) had been standing on.

"No, look. Footprints. I don't think ghosts leave these behind."

"Then... Then what was...?"

"... I don't know. Maybe... No. I really don't know." Toris replied, kneeling down by the grass. Ludwig stood there awkwardly, completely forgetting about trying to lure Alfred out of his room. After having a good look at the grass, Toris stood up again.

The Lithuanian was wearing a deep frown, as he walked over to Ludwig, with his arms crossed. The seriousness and boldness with which Toris walked over was uncharacteristic for him and made the German feel a little out of place.

Unknown to Ludwig, Toris only appeared that way, because he was in a lot of confusion, and stressful situations were known for changing a human's behaviour. Whatever was going on, Toris would try to figure it out, before it was too late.

It seemed, there was a lot more to Slenderman than he thought (or anyone else, for that matter). And if he couldn't get his information from humans... He would have to search the supernatural.

Toris picked up the ladder and turned to Ludwig, who was still staring at the patch Gil had once been standing on, having eventually found the spot of grass more fascinating (and less scary) than looking at Toris.

"Ludwig?"

"... Ja?" Ludwig asked after a while, with that same shocked and shaky voice.

"... How come he knew your name?"

"... I... I don't..."

"Then... Then why did you ask him if you knew him?"

"I... I don't know."

* * *

**Dear Anon, I luv you very much for leaving such a pleasant review. ^.^ Just as a pointer though, Ludwig has appeared in an earlier chapter, though he wasn't very present really.  
**

* * *

**There's a reason why Arthur uses "Automobile" instead of "Car". See if you can guess it. :3**

**I've realised that I've written Poland's human name wrong in earlier chapters. I've also referred to the Slender game as "Slenderman"... I'll correct those later (maybe). (Felix. Feliks. It was close...)  
**

**This is so badly written, I should be ashamed of myself. XD But the story's good, so what gives, right? I just really don't have much time to write three stories in one go, so something has to suffer. :P I guess I can rewrite this once I've finished, eh?  
**

**Also, for future reference, I am well versed in the world of Slenderman. I didn't find out about him through the game Slender, but through the hetalia fanfic "Forest People". And I'll have to apologise to hardcore Slenderman fans. I've remodelled Slenderman to fit in this story, so BEWARE. We're not dealing with Traditional Slenderman here, neither are we dealing with Slender Game Slenderman. We are dealing with Super Sister Slenderman. Just so we're clear on that.  
**

**Anyway...  
**

**Review?  
**


	5. Cover Patches

"Ok, so it's entirely not completely impossible that you, my awesome, pancake eating friend, were right." Gilbert announced, once he had joined up with Mattie to stalk Tino, though he should be stalking Toris. Gilbert currently didn't care. He simply couldn't spend time with Toris at the moment. Not if... Not if Ludwig was still around. He couldn't keep up his mask with _him_ there.

He paced around the small room, rubbing his forehead, frowning and muttering things to himself.

Mattie's attention, however, was not focused on the Prussian, but on Tino instead, the Finnish man playing chess with Eduard van Bock at the moment.

To anyone who wasn't an assistant, this action would have made them think that Mattie was ignoring Gilbert and was being rude and asocial, however, assistants were very skilled at both socializing and being creepy at the same time. Despite currently having a lack of mouth, Mattie considered talking to the Prussian.

"What happened?" Mattie asked after a while of listening to Gilbert ramble to himself in German, a language that the Canadian simply couldn't wrap his mind around.

"I... I saw my brother Mattie. My _brother._ But... But I'm sure he's dead! So how can I have seen him, right?" Gilbert replied, pacing around in a circle. "I should know what to do, but I don't, because he reacted to Luddie and asked me if he _knew_ me and-and-and... This whole thing's so unawesome!"

"... So you believe what I said about Alfred now?"

"Who?"

"My brother. Alfred."

"Oh. Dunno about your guy, but I know my Luddie when I see him." Gilbert replied, not really caring. He walked up to the chess board and was tempted to move a piece for Tino, the Finnish man having the possibility to get Checkmate. However, Gilbert decided against it, seeing as he didn't want the two running off, screaming on about ghosts.

However, the Prussian then changed his mind. He smirked and decided that he didn't care too much about their reactions and knocked all the pieces over, all at once. Tino jumped and immediately looked over to "Slenderman", as if he were to blame, while Eduard let out a scream of surprise and fell off his seat.

"That was fun." Gilbert muttered, walking back to his friend, hands in his pockets. If it weren't for Mattie's current expression (his shape had currently shifted into Slenderman's rough shape), the Prussian reckoned that the Canadian would be glaring at him.

"Must have been the wind?" Eduard muttered, as he started picking up the chess pieces. Tino said nothing, shooting an angry glare at Matthew, then proceeding to pick up the pieces too.

"Huh. Tino and Toris are both tougher than I thought." Gilbert commented, crossing his arms. "Well, they'll both break eventually." He finally decided.

"They all do in the end." He added. Mattie said nothing, not letting his guise flicker.

Gilbert suddenly noticed that his hands weren't the only things in his pockets. He could feel something hard and delicate. He grabbed the object and took it out, eyes widening slightly.

"Oh yeah, Slendy fixed your glasses." Gilbert announced, handing the glasses to Matthew. Mattie didn't even nod in approval, simply slipping the glasses on. The glasses seemed to merge into his face, making him look like Slenderman once again. It was still a weird thing to watch. Gilbert sighed and crossed his arms.

"Other than him being curious as to how you managed to break your glasses, he wasn't very suspicious." Gilbert added, about to sit down, when Mattie spoke up..

"Don't do that Gil." He said, frowning. Gilbert rolled his eyes and walked over to Tino and Eduard, who were both still picking up the chess pieces.

"Need a hand?" Gilbert pretended to ask Eduard, as he reached out to pick up one of the pieces. One that both Tino and Eduard could clearly see.

"_Don't you dare._" Suddenly echoed in Gilbert's head, making him jump back. He frowned and glared at Mattie, who was still watching Tino, arms by his sides.

"Oh come on, don't use the link on me. You know it's painful to use when we're close by." The Prussian whined, frowning.

"You should have thought about that, before pranking Eduard." Mattie replied, in a lecturing manner.

"Dude, if anyone should be lecturing anyone, it should be me you. I'm older and am awesomely more experienced than both you _and_ Arthur put together." Gilbert complained, walking over to the Canadian.

An awkward silence ensued, in which Gilbert started whistling that annoying song to himself again. However, Mattie chose not to be annoyed this time. Soon, the Prussian got bored and silenced.

"... So what do we do now?" Mattie asked.

"Hm?"

"About our brothers."

"Oh. To be honest... I really don't know. They should be dead and I don't know much about this supernatural stuff. It's not like we have much time to figure stuff out, with Slenderman breathing down our necks half the time." Gilbert replied after a moment's thought. "I guess... I guess for now, I'm just glad that my brother's alive. Rather than trying to figure out why they're alive... I'd much rather get in contact with him."

"... But how can we do that? You yourself said we can't do anything, without Slenderman some how figuring it out."

"That's where you're wrong. I never said that Slendy figured out everything we did."

"Huh? But..."

"Mattie, did I ever tell you about the time I and Arthur managed to sneak away from Slendy, long enough to spend an evening in a restaurant? It was awesome. And then there was this other time, when I went with Gregor- he was before your time by the way - drinking at a pub together. We met some girls and..."

"OK, OK, I get it! ... So what do you suggest?" Mattie said, slightly miffed that despite being around for such a relatively long time, neither Arthur nor Gilbert had told him about their supposed free time.

"Well, I'll get Eduard out of the room, while you give Tino some kind of message, telling him to go and find your and my brother. Remember, my brother is called _Ludwig Beilschmidt_. Okay?"

"Er, OK... But why should I tell-?"

"Ergh. You're such an unawesome newb. Look, I'll explain it to you later, OK? For now, just do it, OK?"

"O-OK." Mattie replied. Gilbert grinned and slapped Mattie on the back, hard.

"You'll do great kid." He announced, before running out of the room. Tino and Eduard had set up a new game of chess and had started playing again.

Mattie stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Gilbert had told him, yes, but it wasn't very explicit. What if he did something wrong? The Canadian took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

What does he do now? How would he give Tino a message? Should he speak to him in his mind?

The doorbell rang.

"Oh, that must be them. Guess they're finally back with pizza." Eduard announced, smiling. Tino got to his feet. "I'll go get it-" he started, but then Eduard interrupted him.

"No, no. You're the guest, I'll get it." The Estonian said, leaving the room, before Tino could stop him. Tino frowned in worry, only rarely being by himself nowadays.

"Oh dear..." He muttered to himself and looked over to Slenderman, only to find him gone. Tino paled.

Mattie ran across the room and picked up a pen and paper, placing it in front of Tino, then blowing in his face to get his attention. The Finnish man looked in the direction of the wind. He saw the piece of paper on the chess board.

"... Where did that come from...?" He mumbled, hovering over to the table. Suddenly, neat writing started appearing on the sheet, making Tino nearly jump out of his skin. What was this? This wasn't part of slenderman sickness!

Unless...

The victims are supposed to suffer from hallucinations...

But he always assumed they would involve Slenderman.

Tino watched as the ink appeared on the paper, before it finally finished and read what stood there.

_Don't be afraid Tino._ He read. Next to "Tino" stood several scribbles, which confused the Finnish man. Of course, he couldn't know that Mattie had tried and failed to write Tino's surname several times, something that had always bothered the Canadian.

_I am a friend._ He continued reading. More confusion. Maybe he was hallucinating that someone would finally help him out of his misery (other than through death)?

_Find Alfred F. Williams and Ludwig Beilschmidt if you want to live. They are friends of the other victim._

_Good Luck_

Tino felt deep confusion and picked the letter up, turning it over several times. This... Was this real? Was this hope out of this dreadful situation? A chance to live again? A chance for this all to finally end?

He had found letters related to Slenderman before, but...

But this was the first one with _good news_. Or possibly good news. The first one with _hope_ anyway. Tino looked around the room.

Still no sign of Slenderman.

But what if this was all a hallucination? What if he'd invented it?

... But he had never heard of the name "Beilschmidt" before, so maybe he hadn't invented it? He hurriedly ran out of the room, to Eduard, freezing in his steps. At the door was Slenderman.

But only at first glance.

After looking a bit, it turned out that it was just a man in a black suit, with white hair and pink (or pale red?) eyes. It was still a strange sight.

"So, you're _sure_ there isn't an _awesome_ amusement park around here? Because I could have sworn I'd heard it was _here._?" the man asked, before glancing in Tino's direction, focusing on something behind him. Tino turned around to see what the man was looking at, but saw nothing.

Of course, Gilbert was looking at Mattie, who gave him a thumbs up. Gilbert nodded slightly and looked back at Eduard, who was tiredly explaining again that no, there was indeed no amusement park nearby and explaining_ why_ there was no amusement park nearby.

"Oh, well, sorry for wasting your unawesome time." Gilbert replied sort of apologetically, while grinning in a manner that made even Mattie shudder. He waved goodbye and walked off, whistling his annoying song again. Eduard closed the door and turned to Tino.

"I swear, this is one of the weirdest days in my life." He said, massaging his forehead. Tino nodded mutely, then walked up to the Estonian, pressing the letter in his hands.

"Do you see this?" He asked.

Eduard looked at Tino with confusion, then examined the letter.

"Yes. Why shouldn't I...?"

"And you can see the writing on it?"

"Well, yes-"

"So read it to me." Tino cut off, a little too eagerly. Eduard sighed deeply and started reading the letter. Despite the Estonian feeling uncomfortable about the way his friend was acting, he couldn't say no. Tino hadn't seemed so... So normal? Relieved? Happy? in years.

"Er... It says '_Don't be afraid Tino, I am a friend. Find Alfred F. Williams and Ludwig Beilschmidt, if you want to live._' Er... Did you write this?" Tino didn't reply, snatching the letter back, a smile breaking out, onto his face.

Not a torment-ridden, breakdown smile though. It wasn't the smile the Finnish man had been smiling for the past few years. It was a real, _authentic_ smile.

"Eduard, I need your yellow pages." Tino announced, waving in the rough direction of no where in particular. Eduard hurriedly scuttled off, to find what his friend had asked for, not about to deny Tino anything, now that something within the Finnish man had quite obviously changed.

Tino smiled widely and began crying and laughing with relief and joy.

Finally a way out.

Gilbert and Mattie watched, feeling a little guilty.

* * *

**A little short, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. :)  
**

**Also, you may have noticed I didn't reply to all your reviews. I love them all and am truely grateful that you all posted them. ^.^  
**


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